quorum call:

the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i now move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 563. the presiding officer: question is on the motion. all those in favor say aye. all those opposed, no. ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: carolyn b. mccue of utah to be united states circuit judge for the tenth circuit i.

mr. reid: i is send a cloture motion to the clesks. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: cloture motion: we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of carolyn b. mccould you of utah to be united states circuit judge for the tenth circuit signed by 17 senators as follows: mr. reid: i ask that the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask consent the manned fishery quorum under rule 222 be waived. officer without objection. mr. reid: i ask to move to legislative session. the presiding officer: all those in favor say aye. all those opposed, no. the ayes appear to have t the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. mr. reid: i move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 577. the presiding officer: question is on the motion. all those in favor say aye. opposed, no. the ayes appear to have t the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: matthew frederick

lightman of michigan to be united states district judge for the eastern district of michigan. mr. reid: there is a cloture motion at the desk, mr. president. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion. the clerk: cloture motion: we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of matthew frederick lightman of michigan to be united states district judge for the eastern district of michigan. signed by 17 senators as follows: mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the reading of the names not be necessary. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask consent that the mandatory quorum under 22 be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i move to move to legislative session. the presiding officer: all those in favor say aye. opposed, no. the ayes appear to have t the ayes do have t the motion is agreed to. mr. reid: i move to executive session to consider calendar number 578. the presiding officer: question ogee the motion. all those in favor say aye. opposed, no. the ayes appear to have t the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to.

the clerk will report th the nominee naiption. the clerk: jude dith levy to be united states district judge for michigan. mr. reid: i send a cloture motion to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: cloture motion: we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of judith ellen levy of michigan to be united states district judge for the eastern district of michigan signed by 17 senators as follows: mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask that the mandatory quorum under rule 22 be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i move to legislative session. the presiding officer: question on the motion. all those in favor say aye. all those opposed, no. ayes appear to have it. the ayes do it it. the motion is agreed to. mr. reid: i move to proceed to executive session. and proceed to calendar number 579. the presiding officer:

question on the motion. those in favor say aye. all those opposed, no. ayes appear to have t the ayes do have it. motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: laurie j. michaelson of michigan to be united states district judge for the eastern district of michigan. mr. reid: there is a cloture motion desk i wish to have reported. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: cloture motion: we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of laurie j. michaelson of michigan to be united states district judge for the eastern district of michigan. signed by 17 senators as follows: mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the reading of the names waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i now move to proceed to legislative session. yes, mr. president, i do ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum under rule 22 be waived. officer without objection. mr. reid: i move ask move to legislative session. the presiding officer: all knows in favor say aye. all those opposed, no.

ayes appear to have it. ayes do have t motion is agreed to. mr. reid: i move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 508. the presiding officer: question on the motion. all those in tariff say aye. those opposed, no. ayes appear to have it. ayes do have t motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: linda vivienne parker of michigan to be united states district judge for the eastern district of michigan. mr. reid: i send a cloture motion to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: cloture motion: we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on nomination of linda vivienne parker of michigan to be united states district judge for the eastern district of michigan signed by 17 senators fools. mr. reid: i ask that the reading not be necessary. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum under rule 22 be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i move we proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: question on the motion.

all those in favor say aye. all those opposed, no. ayes appear to have it. ayes do have it. motion is agreed to. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that at a time to be determined by me with the concurrence of senator mcconnell, the senate proceed to executive session to consider the nomination of calendar number 512, there will be 20 minutes of debate equally divided in the usual form, upon use or yielding back of that tiernlg the senate proceed to vote, with no intervening action or debate, the motion to reconsider be laid on the table, with no intervening action or debate, no further motions be in order, the statements be printed in the record, the president be immediately notified of the senate's action and the then resume legislative session. officer withouthe presiding offt objection. mr. reid: i ask that the senate finance committee be discharged from further consideration of 1821 and the snad proceed to its immediate consideration and a heller amendment be agreed to, the motion -- that i will the bill as amend be read a third time and passed, upon passage of the

bill, it be held at the desk and that the senate receives a bill from the house, the text of which has been identical, as passed by the senate, the senate proceed to its immediate consideration, the bill be read a third time, passed, with no intervening action or debate, the senate will be indefinitely post -- the senate bill will being indefinitely postponed, all motions to reconsider be made laid on the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: h.r. 3370 is due for a second reading. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk will report the title -- read the title of the bill for the second tievment. the clerk: an act to delay the implementation of certain provisions of the biggert-waters flood insurance act of 2012 and for other purposes. mr. reid: mr. president, i would object to any further proceedings at this time. the presiding officer: objection is heard. the bill will be placed on the calendar. mr. reid: there are two bills due for their first reading. the presiding officer: the

clerk read the titles of the bills for the first reading. the clerk: s. 2097, a bill to provide for the extension of certain unemployment benefits and for other purposes. h.r. 4118, an act to amend the internal revenue code of 1986 to delay the implementation of the penalty for failure to imply coy with the individual health insurance mandate. mr. reid: i ask for a second reading but object to my own request to both these measures. the presiding officer: objection is heard. the bills will be read for the second time on the negs legislative day. mr. reid: i ask consent that the appointment at the desk be -- appear separate in the record as if made by the chair. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today it adjourning until monday, march 10, 2014, following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour hour be deemed to expire, the journal of proceedings be approved to date, polling if i leader remarks, the sna be in a period of morning business until

5:00 378 with senators permitted to speak up to ten minutes eevment at 5:00 p.m., the senate proceed to consider the mccould you nomination with the time until 5:30 be divided in the usual form. the cloture vote on the mccould you nomination occur at 5:30 p.m. notwithstanding cloture being invoked, the passage of is $1917. if cloture is invoked on the mccould you nomination, the time for the vote on passage of 1*z 1917 count postcloture on the nomination. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: mr. president, i didn't note, we're going to session at 4:00 p.m. that's the request i want added to it. i have a already had it approved by the chaimplet. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: there will be two roll call votes monday starting at 5:30. if there is to further business to come before the senate, i ask it adjourn under the previous order. the presiding officer: the senate will adjourn until senate will adjourn until

for each of their measures. >> talked about some of the members of the military of posting of senator gillibrand version of the bill, how actively work uniformed officers or department of defense personnel on the hill lobbying against? >> well, whenever there were asked about it at hearings they talked about the need to retain the commander's decision making

authority. they said it is a tool to enforce good order and discipline within their units. that has been essentially the brunt of their discussions. i'm short conversations have gone on privately about this matter, but the military is often circumspect about how exactly love with the help and use, you know, sarah gets to make their case as well. >> as things stand today how does that military generally deal with sexual assault cases? >> there have been a lot of changes in the past few years. the numbers of sexual assaults have been growing exponentially. and at the same time there have been a number of reforms passed by congress and initiated by the pentagon itself in that protecting victims, encouraging them to report chronically underreported crime both within the military and the general

population. and also strengthening protections for the victims in the military legal system which is very different than the criminal justice system. >> senator mechanicals bellows will work. what is next? what has the white house said on this issue? assuming senator everett estimates are bill through the senate what is ahead in the house? >> sure. well, the white house has been quiet on the issue of chain of command. and center gillibrand address that in the press conference after the vote saying it would have been helpful to have the endorsement of president obama. the castle, our bill is expected to have the final vote on monday in the senate, expected to pass easily, if not unanimously. and the house could either take it up as a stand-alone bill or wrap it into their negotiations whispering and the defense authorization bill. >> you can support.

thank you for joining us. >> thank you. >> the three elements of the triple package are first, a sense of exception malady. you can get it from lots of different sources, but the feeling you are special and destined for special things. the second element is almost seemingly the opposite. that is a -of insecurity to offset that exception malady. that is a feeling that you have not quite done enough yet, are not good enough yet. the third element is impulse control or self discipline. persevere and resist temptation. >> individuals to have these qualities drop in america. have an interesting, creative destruction relationship between their culture and american culture, especially second-generation kids and

immigrant communities start very typically looking back at their parents' and grandparents' generation cents a, you know what, we don't want to be successful you told us to. we are not interested in those of the use it were the only ones but instead make their own decision whether to be a stand-up comic artist. get what we have found is an aspiration only we have the same qualities that can help achieve different kinds of goals. >> superiority, and security command impulse control, the triple package saturday night at 10:00 eastern and sunday night and 9:00 on afterwards part of book tv this weekend. inferred march book tv book club we will be discussing the new biography of steadily carmichael . >> c-span2 providing live coverage of the u.s. senate for policy to the proceedings inky public policy events. every weekend book tv. now for 15 years the only

television network devoted to nonfiction books about this. c-span2 created by the cable-tv industry. watch us, like us on facebook command follow us on twitter. >> president obama delivered a statement today on the situation in ukraine saying that a planned vote in the crimean parliament on whether to join the federation was against international law and the ukrainian constitution. immediately after the president spoke white house press secretary jay carney held the white house briefing to answer a follow-up question. this is about 55 minutes. >> i can't believe some people are leaving. [laughter] >> thank you all for being here.

having heard the president's statements, i have no other announcements. we have no other announcements. will restrict questions. >> is to follow-up. does the white house see that as being pushed by president proven are there steps that the u.s. can take against the pro russian ? what he was calling an unconstitutional move by the congress within the region. >> well, when it comes to frame work announced today in the president just discussed, you

know, we are not naming individuals in the framework itself. everything, the executive or creates a framework for action and sanctions. that would include the ukrainians and russians. but we'd -- and obviously that would include ukrainians or russians in any part of the ukraine, including crimea. and we are not identifying individuals as part of either the visa ban or the executive order. as for russia's involvement and what has happened in the ukraine, i think it's of velvet evidence that russia has contravention of international law, intervened militarily in crimean, russian forces are responsible for blocking roads and locating military installations instead of

pursuing that path the united nations and the ukrainian government towards addressing the concerns that russia plans were the motivation for the action that has taken which is the concern about the protection of the rights of ethnic russians in parts of the ukraine, in particular in crimea. the way to do that is to allow monitors and and to allow fact finders and he can assess whether or not the rights of a ukrainian citizens are being violated. that is certainly the far more appropriate course of action that they should take. >> does the were house believe that president proven, his goal of pier is our right annexations of the region? is it more to gain leverage

against the west in this continuing stroke? >> rather than assess mothers we can assess facts read as follows car rusher violated international law in treaties and conventions and obligations that it itself assigned by violating the territorial integrity of a sovereign state timesaver instead of the ukraine . made in budapest in 1994. the fact that russia has an interest in the ukraine and has specifically interests in crimea is one that we have recognized. they have a military base there. lawfully established military base as part of an agreement with the sovereign state of the

ukraine. and our whole point has been together with our many allies and partners that russia ought to pursue its concerns and interests in a lawful manner consistent with the un charter, consistent with the budapest memorandum. that is what we are pressing russia to do. >> there have been calls in congress, with the administration to ease natural-gas export restrictions to have leased help supply the ukraine in their supply of natural gas? what is the administration's position? >> the administration is taking immediate steps to assist the government of the ukraine including in the area of energy security, efficiency and scepter reform.

our support for energy related reforms will help the government of the ukraine to take the steps needed to restore economic stability and growth. the department of energy has regulatory authority over liquefied natural gas exports, a lng exports. and it will continue to make public interest determinations on a case by case basis considering economic energy security, environmental and geopolitical impact among other factors. we are moving forward to assist the ukraine in many ways including in the area of energy security on the matter of the regulatory authority for zero mg exports of something that doe handles on the case by case basis. >> giving them access to suppliers elsewhere in the world, other national suppliers?

>> present pattern. >> just to be clear, the executive order establishes a framework for sanctions. it does not specify individuals. establishes a broad authority that can be used as appropriate given the situation on the ground. so the secretary of treasury is now under this executive order allowing the secretary of state who compose sanctions would conduct subscribe in newark. hence the individual sanction under this executive order will be paced on the foreign asset control special edition -- designated nationalist.

the property will be blocked in u.s. persons will be prohibited from doing business with them. in addition, the order suspends entry into the net estates. this creates an authority that is broughton can be used and executed by the secretary of the treasury as appropriate person ought to the situation on the ground. >> how large a universe of people are we talking about? dozens, hundreds? how many falls under this category. >> i am not aware of a limit on the number. >> and one less thing. you have been warning about a move into eastern ukraine. >> i certainly don't have any intelligence assessments to provide to you. i think that as russian officials noted a couple of days ago the exercises that were

announced head supposedly ended in western russia near the ukrainian border and those units were returned to the bases. that is something we obviously monitor closely. there are a stories on the ground in eastern ukraine that are of course of concern. >> to ask you about an? blocked pursuant to the executive order. it provides a flexible tool that in the coming days and weeks can be used to sanctions person responsible for -- and i could go through the list, but in other words, nobody has been sanctioned under the ceo. the authority has been granted, broad authority has been granted to the issue those sanctions as appropriate.

>> i you saying you could do -- greuel of that he could be one of the people sanctions? >> i'm not suggesting any individual. the parameters are laid out in the executive order as to whom it would apply. those judgments will be made as we light the situation on the ground. >> you just said people responsible. this is his policy. the robo operators and russia better doing this. this is his policy that he has the ten. >> what i am in fact saying as opposed to what it my son like i'm saying is the executive order does not name individuals or entities be, does not identify individuals or entities but establishes a framework that creates the authority to identify individuals.

>> try this differently. you think the russian president is responsible for what is going on and the russian crimea to the russian crimean activity? >> we have made clear that we strongly disagree with the russian approach, that russia is obviously responsible for its military forces. contrary to some of the myths that have been put forward by russian officials. it is clear through strong evidence that members of russia's security forces are at the heart of the highly organized anti ukrainian forces. while these units were uniforms with that insignia, they drive vehicles of russian military license plates and freely identified themselves as russian security forces when asked by the ukrainian military and when asked by your colleagues or their reporting of the story. moreover, these individuals armed with weapons that are not generally available to civilians

so absolutely, but that -- absolutely. we hold russia accountable for the actions that russia is taking in this regard and, russia and president to avail itself of the opportunity to address its concerns about ethnic russians. the rights. the allowance of zero as the or you and monitoring into the crane said they can make assessments about those concerns. >> when you say there is no limit on who can become under this -- >> im7 not aware of a numeric equivalent.

started with sanctions. again, there is no individual. this is an establishment authority to act. >> can you give us any idea of a range. are we talking about dozens of people, thousands of people? i'm trying to get an indication. >> the point is to provide a flexible truism that would allow us to sanction those who are most directly involved in the stabilizing igraine. it does not include further steps should the situation deteriorate and as the president just made clear the bridge of international law. that is not just our view but the view of the countries and leaders around the world. >> the president to set a few moments ago, he asked, don't

these actions by definition escalate the pressure, has delayed what you hope to accomplish? >> no, the facts are that russia has intervened militarily is undeniable. the authority that the executive order provides is a flexible tool that allows for the imposition of sanctions on individuals and entities. and it is entirely appropriate at this stage to have that authority be available for exercise by the secretary of treasury in consultation with the secretary of state. we note that our european partners and allies have also taken action. in the meantime we are aggressively pursuing with our partners and allies in europe but diplomatic solution to this. we are making clear to the russians that there is a far better way to address the concerns that they say have

motivated the action and taken. and we are also not just pursuing that avid diplomatically. we are also with some partners and allies providing assistance to the legitimate government of the ukraine, the ukrainian people, and that a very difficult time economically. >> across-set analysis. >> we receive reports that russia is considering its own sanctions. our focus right now, together convince russia to remove its military forces. >> do you have any sense

whatsoever? >> he certainly is. we have made it very clear to russian leaders including the foreign -- russian president, secretary carry has had numerous meetings and conversations. the foreign minister. those consultations are ongoing. have no doubt that the russian president is very clear about our position, not just our position, but the position held by our european and international partners. >> you know, it sounds like judging by what the president said this white house is not giving up crimea. >> crimea is a part of the ukraine. a sovereign state of the ukraine . ukraine territorial integrity is

recognized and validated and the united nations charter, recognized and validated through an agreement to which russia is strictly a signatory, the budapest memorandum. we vote in the crimean legislative body, the proposed referendum is not legitimate under the ukrainian constitution and would not be legitimate if the referendum were to take place. any decisions about the status of our region or province within the ukraine has to be made in accordance with the ukrainian constitution. and i think that is, again, not just our view, but of you help broadly across the world. >> the best way for you to view the framework is that they are a deterrent to dissuade russia from moving out of crimean. they are not now. they're not penalizing individuals or businesses for what is already happening. but they may.

is that the proper way to interpret? >> i will leave the interpretation to you. the executive order makes clear what the president had said which is, there are costs to this section. this is a piece of the cost. the state department is imposing visa restrictions and a number of officials and individuals, reflecting a policy decision to deny visas to those responsible for or composite in threatening sovereignty and territorial integrity of the ukraine. and that is separate and apart from the executive order. the sanctions require the executive order that the president had signed. we have not created a framework.

>> if you were in these chairs he met the executive order as yourself who better fits the definition of responsibility? would that be an unfair interpretation? >> and leave the interpretation to you. >> russia and its anxious has violated the iranian territorial integrity. russia has violated ukraine's sovereignty that russia has taken action that is inconsistent with the obligations it has under the u.n. charter and with the best memorandum that it signed with the ukraine and other partners. you know, our view on who is responsible for the actions that had taken his place is very clear.

they can be imposed on individuals and entities. >> i'm not going to jump ahead and speculate about whom might be named know what and disease might be included. >> one question. in general the administration has been supportive of the process by which it dealt with adequate this in educating. singling out the russian language and other aspects. might have been viewed legitimately as provided by the russians, not just find their actions as being troublesome but worrisome. >> well, we certainly believe that the pilot has conducted itself very well one of the

myths that has been pulled out there is that somehow president tenneco but is still the president that he was forced to flee. in fact, he signed an agreement that explicitly that ukrainian parliament that allows it to pass a bill that would return -- would return to power the 2004 constitution and make that the governing document the filling its obligation very quickly. but for signing it he fled the country, packed up his belongings and fled the country and left in his wake a cornucopia of evidence suggesting widespread corruption and abuse of his power and authority and legitimacy. again, --

>> it may. >> i understand. but i am not -- what i think is very clear is that the canadian government in the ukrainian parliament have conducted themselves professionally and responsibly in an extremely difficult situation. we have every step of the way made clear that it is very important for ukrainian authorities to protect and guarantee the rights of ethnic russians and all other at the mayor argues. the attention we have seen in crimea has been brought about by the actions taken by russian military forces. >> it was five years ago today. does the president have any

regrets about that approach? >> what the president set out to do when he took office was to establish the bilateral relationship with russia that insured that the united states was very clear right then and not either romantic or dismissive about the capacity ten advance our interests in that relationship. that approach has led to the cooperation between the united states and russia. as lead to cooperation with two between the united states and russia when it comes to resupply u.s. forces in afghanistan. in the areas of the start two

treaty. what it would also mean is that approach as allow us to be extremely blunt when sa powerful disagreements. we have been blonde all along. that is an area of missile defense. most notably with regard to syria and here as well as in other areas. so what we -- >> your trying to -- >> i noticed there is any argument out there. los substantiated basis that suggested the president of russia has taken the action that he has taken because of actions the united states has taken.

i think that in the historian, anybody knowledgeable about russia or the former soviet union would be as dismissive as that suggestion as i am trying to be now. >> the president was dismissive, but jen in the last campaign said russia was our number one geopolitical foe. >> no. again, the situation where russia is violating international law because a country that moscow to have a government that moscow supported was rejected by the vast majority of the ukrainian people and because they wanted to determine their own future. they wanted to be able to make that decision as to their integration with your. they did not want to be dictated

to by an outside state or an outside authority. it is hardly a demonstration -- it's not a positive thing for a russia that ukraine has been moving in this direction. it does not have to be a negative thing. it is a mistake certainly in the long run for russia not to accept the fact that ukraine can -- the granny and people should be able to decide for themselves in a democratic manner how they will integrate with europe. and in doing so they cannot maintain their long historical and cultural ties and economic ties to russia. they can and should be able to do both that it should not be a threat to russia to do so. so i think on this matter it is important to note that when it comes to these kinds of

situations and the international scene partisan politics of fine. we engage in them every day here , here i mean washington. but in a case like this is soda being a partisan republican. a partisan american who identifies the outrageous actions and violations of international law that had taken place. >> using those critics -- >> partisanship and others have identified in this circumstance is unwarranted. in fact the president and others in response to the violation of international law that is taking place we are working in concert with the partners to do so and that is in the united states interest in the interest of our allies and partners in the interest of the ukrainian people to support ukraine and to work to persuade russia to reverse course. >> another subject, health care.

another delay on the president's law. the controversy. when that crop of he repeatedly said from this podium that these were substandard plans. people should get better plans. why then i you allow people to keep these substandard plans for a couple more years, getting it passed the midterm election? >> no, the fact of the matter is that we are working to implement the affordable care axilla millions of americans can have the benefits of quality affordable health insurance. in that processes well underway. millions of americans have signed up for quality and affordable health insurance to the marketplace. what we also said is that when it became clear that the grandfather clause within the affordable care act that was part of the law when it was

passed was not sufficient to ensure that folks to have these individual plans were not adversely affected in the transition. we have been taking steps to smooth that transition. we are about the business of enrolling people in affordable quality health insurance and smoothing the transition that takes place as we adapt to the marketplaces. by contrast rehab i house of representatives, republicans in the house of representatives voting for the 50th time to repeal the affordable care act without an alternative. so every voter appeal is about to go back to the world where insurance companies can throw you off your policy, decide not to cover the condition from which he suffered, could put lifetime caps on your coverage.

charging sister double what they charge you just because she's a woman. all those americans are not able to the other parents policies until 26 of the out of luck. that is the consequence if they were to succeed of repeal. >> sabotage. the president changed a couple dozen times. >> any rational, reasonable analysis of the efforts undertaken by republicans to say is a number one priority to repeal obamacare. leading republicans said today that every word as to be repealed. maybe they will. it wouldn't be any less productive. so that is focused baby to suggest otherwise would be totally disingenuous. they wanted --

>> at least a knowledge that. you may not like the plan. it may be horrible. >> the republicans rally around a very bloody glove on it. >> regarding the health care today. i talked to a number of people who are strongly in favor of the health care who fear that this is maybe a little bit too late to little, a lot of flaws in the outraged latino community. morse in tehran this or are there reasons that the president had been -- just a website? yes, and is trying to figure out . >> obviously i don't want to contradict whoever is telling you that. we are aggressively reaching out to all communities across the country who stand to benefit from the action is available to

them under the affordable care act. and i think that is demonstrated did we hamper that effort? did we, you know, cause the effort that we were engaged in, a lot of unnecessary harm when the website got off to such a terrible start? absolutely. will we have seen since the website began working in functioning effectively for the vast majority of users is that that demand for quality affordable health insurance has remain incredibly strong in spite of all the obstacles the were drawn up in front of americans in the first month especially who were trying to sign up. and that is on us. taking complete responsibility for that and is live the all-out effort was engaged to fix the problems of the website, make sure it was working effectively for the american people and, again, the members that we have seen bear out the eocene and

steady and strong demand for the product on offer year. our goal going back to my answer has been sent effectively implement the applaudable care act and make it easier and taking all the other steps related to i'll reach and communities like hispanic americans said that everyone can get the information they need, make the choices and that this is is that the need to making it the insurance and it is available. >> the message has been received in the latino community. >> it is an ongoing effort. so nobody would -- nobody involved in this effort would set the job is done within the community. we have an open enrollment that does not end until much 31st. and that team effort here is 24 / seven. the answer is no, but the answer is no for every community. >> thank you.

you mentioned elections in the ukraine. is he also going to recognize? what does he think about the premier referendum the magazine got to recognize that? >> i think we have said -- and i will repeat that the referendum that has been scheduled to take place is not -- does not comport with the ukrainian constitution. it is certainly, again, as established in the grain constitution, a decision on the status of the region of the ukraine in relation to the nation of ukraine and/or in relation to the rest of the ukraine has to be done in accordance with the carrying constitution. in keeping with the well of the ukrainian people. so that is not a legitimate step. i think nobody outside of moscow and some parts of crimea suggest that it is.

>> one other question. you mentioned the rules. does the president wanted the apartment? what to see what to do? i'm not clear. >> there is a process that establishes a case by case evaluation and how that works is something that the department of energy can explain. i don't have anything more on that from the white house. >> when t plan ted designate? does the authority exists? when the plan to designate individuals? >> i don't know that specify timing for you. what the action taken today does is provide the tools necessary and inflexible set of tools to sanction individuals and entities, but i don't -- you know, we will obviously make you aware of any action that is taken. but i don't have a timetable for

you. >> i guess what i'm asking, the referendum by the next deadline. there were to part themselves to my if they continue to park themselves the referendum does not take place then the status quo does not require any further action. now what is already taken place. you're not actually implementing the cost. >> again, i think you're missing the fact that we have already taken action including suspending bilateral discussions with russia on trading investments. >> understood. >> that probably does not feel that way to russia. including exercises, bilateral meetings top port visits and planning conferences and our agreement with g7 nations to suspend our activities associated with the edge al qaeda summit in russia in june, depending analysis system develops the united states is prepared to consider additional steps as anxious as necessary.

i'm not going to the attached the issuance of a specific sanctions to any action or inaction anticipated or otherwise except to say that that eo allows for the secretary of treasury take this action in consultation with the secretary of state. in the meantime these have been put in place. all these other actions have happened. our european allies have announced their own set of actions. canada has taken action. i think if you look at the mosaic, if you will, there is a broad engine national consensus here that recognizes that what russia has done here is in clear violation of international law. >> you brought up to international monitors which has been discussed. how you could have international monitors to the situation that took place yesterday were un special envoy was basically forced by armed thugs, as

described by some administration members out of that region. >> well, it is totally unacceptable. the un special envoy was accosted at gunpoint and trend yesterday during his visit to crimea. the united nations has sought to dsk the situation. enshrined in international law. .. russian security forces need to

return to their bases. ukraine's sovereign territory needs to be respected in the concerns russia about its interest in ukraine in the crimea its interest in the rights of ethnic russians can and should be addressed in accordance with internatiinternati onal law through the united nations through the osc and we are absolutely willing to support that effort. blocking the ability of the u.n. special envoy to enter the ukraine or to have and effective visit in the ukraine only reinforces to the world the lawlessness of the action so far. >> this last question. hillary clinton clarified some remarks where she basically compared the situation taking place in ukraine and russia to lessons that were learned in the 1930s germany in terms of the effort of russia to go in and

claim they are protecting ethnic minorities, ethnic russians in the states. is that a fair comparability? >> i would refer you to former secretary clinton. as she said later she was talking about tactics but i think we are dealing with the problem in 2014.we can address and that we are addressing now very aggressively with our international partners. scott. >> in drawing up this executive order i think you have the implication of it did the president express whether or not he thought putin would be subject to its? >> against god i'm just not going to discuss individuals are entities that aren't identified in the executive order and no individual or entity has been identified under the executive of order so i'm not going to characterize it conversation with the president about it. i think it's very clear what the executive order sets out to do

and the authority it establishes and judgments about individuals and entities that would be targeted with sanctions will be made along the way but i'm not going to speculate about who or what entity might be included on that list. >> who makes the assessment? is that the international security council or the state department? who decides who is on the list and who is not on the list? >> the eeo establishes the framework that allows the secretary of the treasury jack lew in consultation with secretary of state. to impose sanctions for the conduct described in the order so the execution of that authority rests with secretary of the treasury and all of us under the direction of the president. >> in 2011 the president imposed sanctions directly on bashar al-assad and i wonder what the difference would be in

forcefully sanctioning a head of state in that situation and not doing so in this situation? >> you are presupposing something that you know is not consistent with what we have announced today. [inaudible] see what we have done today establishes the authority to take action against any individual or entity. we are not putting people on lists and we are not taking people off list right now. we are simply establishing the framework for that authority. >> is there possibility of who is on the list? >> what we have barely said is that the russian government -- i'm not ruling anything in or out. >> the president responded saying he is not going to --. >> it wasn't a criticism.

he is the champion in chief when it comes to comments. >> would you say the president is saying he has done everything he can within his executive power to slow the pace about his white house positioned? >> we have made it clear through our efforts that the way to resolve all the many problems associated with our broken immigration system is to comprehensively reform our immigration system and in that effort the president has taken a lead but it's not something any president can do alone. he has to do with congress. he or she has to deal do with congress and the senate boldly, bravely rightly in keeping with broad consensus across the country asked a bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform bill that reflects the principles the president set

forth. we need to see the house to the same again consistent with the support of a broad coalition of americans labor, business and law enforcement and faith-based groups so we have also taken action to ensure that through prosecutorial discretion that when it comes to enforcement the focus is on -- there has been action taken through dhs to protect the so-called dreamers, kids who were brought here through no fault of their own and had rome up american in every way except for the absence of papers but the broader problems here can or may be addressed to comprehensive immigration reform and the president has been a tireless supporter of that effort and led that effort and i think it's fair to say given the election we had in 2012 where the president was at year's proponent of conference of

immigration reform and his opponent took the stand that self deportation was the appropriate approach to the immigration problem, the only reason why we are having this discussion right now is because he was reelected. >> how does he feel them about his allies in this push for immigration reform that you said he led had turned on them so quickly? >> i think the president is enormously aware of and sympathetic to the hardship and challenges that the broken immigration system creates for people across the country and you know the problems are many and that is why we need a comprehensive immigration reform bill passed. you have employers out there who play by the rules and other employers that don't. we need to make sure that every employer place by the same rules. we need to make sure that incredibly talented and smart men and women who come here from

abroad and study in the best universities in the world stay here to create businesses here and not elsewhere. they don't create businesses in countries that are competitors economically and the economic and if that's our broad and acknowledged by economists across the country and there really is a strong conservative argument for getting this done. we hope that self-identified conservatives take it up and get it done. april. >> talk to me about the white house's feelings about this recent interaction between darrell issa and congressman elijah cummings? it seems like there was a brouhaha on the hill and what is the concern or the feeling of the white house to removing darrell issa? cbc is calling for it. >> congressional procedure actions like that are up to the

houses of congress and in this case the house of representatives house of representatives. i won't express. i won't express a view on that but what i will say is we have seen -- congressman cummings in my view and in our view is always the smartest guy in the room and when he wants to speak he should be allowed to speak. >> there was a level of disrespect and the people are saying do you feel he was disrespected by darrell issa? >> i think it's an appropriate two.allow the ranking member of the committee to speak. >> as a republican leader? >> i'm not going to get into the business of the house when it comes to actions taken against individual members or consider but i have said ricky members like the chairman not to be able to speak in their committees.

>> two clarifications. i just want to go back to the question about whether the president's ceo is issuing a warning for his imposing costs because cbo administration officials were clear earlier today that this is designed with the presidents order to respond to violations of international law that have already occurred so can i just go back to the question. if president putin and the russian federation sues its way out but like the president outlined with this executive order the null and void? in other words would they be avoiding the punishment if they follow the president's --. >> when you say the punishments the executive order establishes the authority. it is very broad and simple for the treasury to exercise so the actions, sort of like an accordion. the number of individuals and entities that can be named as well as a kind and level of sanctions that can be imposed

are very broad so it's sort of impossible to answer that question except to say that i don't think people that focus on these things and understand how these authorities work would view it any other way then that this is a concrete action that clear our position and our readiness to impose sanctions and this is the step we need to take in order to do that. so, and i'm not going to speculate about if russia does this or if they cry me in parliament does that what then will we do? we have made clear we have set forward the authority that is very flexible to take action appropriately. and building on the action we have argued taken. >> i'm still confused about whether this is a fait accompli?

in other words names will go on this list because of the violations we have already heard but your language says can be opposed, names might be added to this. so do you understand the confusion that we are having? >> i suppose i understand the question but i don't want to get ahead of actions that will be taken under the authority established in the executive order and the authority is real and it is broad. >> i wanted to follow up on this. can you offer an example of how the economic body would actually hit those entities or individuals who directly or indirect way involved in the violations that have already occurred taste of the property holdings in the united states? >> i would refer you to speak to the -- if you look at actions taken by the europeans there is

a way to answer that question. carol. >> two things. administration officials said that -- [inaudible] and the president said he is taking a moment to reflect. is that still the case and why didn't we pass that inactions today? >> no, look the president and others were referring specifically to the announcement apparently fulfilled of the decision to move military units in western russia back to their barracks after the completion of the announced exercises. but i think in some ways this is an answer to the earlier question. the actions taken today have to do with the clear and continued violation of ukraine's sovereignty and territorial

integrity that is happening today and has been happening now for several days. so we are closely monitoring events in the crimea and all of ukraine and are urging the russians to move towards a diplomatic resolution, towards direct dialogue with the ukrainian government about steps that can be taken with ample precedent using international monitors to ensure that the rights of ethnic russians in the ukraine are protected and respected and that the interest that russia has in ukraine in particular its military facilities in crimea are protected and are protected in keeping with the agreement that

the ukrainian government and the russian government have together but the only violation of that agreement thus far has been through the actions of the russian government. let me go to jessica. >> is there a chinese role in the ukrainian crisis? according to the readout on a solution that would uphold the integrity she had a phonecall with president putin in which he characterizes as an accidental elements of the inevitable. i'm just wondering where the white house sees that particularly in the conflicting messages? >> i would simply say we are working with all of our partners on the u.n. security council and elsewhere together recognizing

the actions that were taken are in violation of international law. i don't think those actions were an accident and i don't think anybody believes they were an accident. thank you very much. i have got to run. thank you. >> ladies and gentlemen i agree that the justice system had failed but it had failed any faulkner and his family.

[applause] so imagine my shock, imagine the shock of his family when president obama nominated debo up adela to be this overwrites division of the united states. i will tell you i could not let that stand without a fight and i knew that the odds of defeating his nomination on the senate floor were not very good. presidents usually get their nominees confirmed. democrats control the senate and as you well know in an outrageous power grab a you too lead early change the rules so that now senate democrats can confirm presidential nominees with a simple majority vote without even a single republican vote so i knew it wouldn't be enough to hold all republicans anon -- we would need at least six

democrats to come along with us. the odds were good. sometimes you to fight the fight even when the arts aren't good. [applause] so i went to work to give floor speeches radio interviews and press conferences and i appreciate the traffic help from the philadelphia f. op, many conversations with my senate colleaguecolleague s. i was trying to persuade them, we can't let this happen. yesterday morning the morning of the vote i didn't know if we have the vote to defeat this nominee but as i was cub repairing might closing argument for the senate something very interesting happened. the door to the senate chamber opened and in walked vice president joe biden. now that was the best news i had have had in a while. that is not my usual reaction. but it was clear they didn't know whether they had the votes

and they thought they might just need vice president biden in the presiding officer's chair to cast the tiebreaker if there were ties so they call the vote and i stood nervously in the well consulting with my colleagues making sure we had the votes we had and the votes came in yesterday morning we help every single republican and picked up seven democrats and we defeated the nomination of debo abegbile yesterday morning. [applause] let me be clear about a couple of things. first of all this is not at all about the principle that every defendant deserves a competent attorney. of course every defendant does in fact deserve a competent attorney in his trial. it is not about the idea that somehow a personal lawyer should be condemned for the crimes of his client. a lawyer should not be condemned for the crimes of his client.

this was always about the principle that no one should be able to make a mockery of our criminal justice system fan the flames of racial strife in america join a dishonest international anti-american campaign along the way drag the family of a fallen police officer through three decades of health been then be confirmed to a high post in the justice department. [applause] so why am i telling the story? it is not just to celebrate a conservative vic jury but that's okay. every once in a while we need to do that. i think it demonstrates when we stand up and fight on principle we can actually win sometimes even in washington d.c.. [applause] and this ladies and gentlemen is what republicans need to do. it's what republicans need to do across the country and it's what republicans need to do in congress. the fact is we need to stand up to a president who think the

laws of america don't apply to him. >> we do not have a criminal investigation role. we have a fast enforcement role. one the most critical things agency does to enforce the federal security laws to make sure that wall street abides by the rules and they also write the rules for broker-dealers and investment advisers. we have the power to bring approval of our commission civil actions civil fraud action in negligence actions against those who violate the federal securities law. we can't send them to jail but we can assess civil penalties and frankly are level of penalties isn't as high as we like it to be and there's legislation to give us an ability to assess higher penalties. we can require those who commit

wrongdoing to disgorge their ill-begotten gains and the profits they make from their wrongdoing and we have the power in the appropriate case to bar somebody from the securities industry so that they can't live another day to defraud again. >> consumer information and insurance oversight deputy administer gary cohen says the agency is very encouraged with the health care exchange enrollment numbers as of march 31 deadline approaches. he adds their expected increase in traffic and the number of enrollees as well. he was the featured speaker of america's health insurance plans organization today in washington d.c.. this is about 35 minutes. >> our first speaker is gary

cohen who needs no introduction to this audience or any audience nationally for that matter. gary as you know runs it and is now is on his second stent and is preparing to think as everyone knows it's not a secret he announced yesterday, he is preparing to exit at the end of the month but very i think all of us want to say how much we appreciated not only your leadership by your thoughtfulness throughout this process. gary has led a team of terrific folks with whom we interact very free but win the one thing that i would say about you and your team again that we very much appreciate his your ear to the ground and always wanting to know what people are dealing with at the ground level and how we can make things workable and we very much appreciate that. gary not only is on the second

stent's at societal but he has had a very distinguished series series -- a history and policy and politics. he was chief of staff to congressman john garamendi. he was general counsel of california department of insurance under commissioners garamendi and steve poizner and served as general counsel is -- of fate california public commissioner and was a partner in a law firm before he started his policy career. with that we have a triptych lineup up wonderfully distinguished guest to kick us out. please welcome me in joining gary cohen. [applause] >> thank you very much karen and thanks for having me here today. it's great to be back with you and to speak to some of our most important business partners. i know we have all been working

very hard over the last several months to make sure that as many americans as possible have access to secure quality affordable health coverage and it feels as though we can see at least one finish line looming ahead of us at the end of this month. i know we will all be grateful when that time comes. no one more than me since it means i'll be able to go back home to california. i just want to emphasize how much we appreciate all that you have done and how much we recognize that we could not have accomplished what we have accomplished so far and what we are continuing to do in the future without all of your hard work and all of your help. we have edited it from everything that you have done working with us to make improvements to healthcare.gov

from the time that open enrollment began in october and we have benefited from your responsiveness as people have started to use their new health coverage and have in some cases may be faced some issues arising out of that and we have been extremely gratified by how much both the association and plans have dealt with those issues that they have come up. we have appreciated both yours and the association's input into the whole range of vote policy and operational issues that we have faced as we implemented the affordable care act and it's been really invaluable to us to understand how things look from your perspective and than what it is you need to be able to help your customers in accessing health coverage.

and i did want to mention is i think people probably have already also heard that cynthia mcdonald who was recently with the hcfc joined as the deputy director for operations a position that kim kerr had been in before. jim went back to his day job at cms and cynthia also rings a very deep knowledge of understanding of operational issues and we recognize how important it is that we have that at our disposal. she in the month she has been here has proven to be a tremendous asset and i also want to say that we know that we have asked you to do a lot of things that we expected and you expected so we understand that and we appreciate that. we are working literally night

and day to continue to make improvements and to enhance the customer experience and complete all of the functionality that we need to have in order to be able to provide a first-class experience both for consumers and for you all that we want to have. we recognize that without your health -- help and your patience and understanding in your long hours this thing really would not have been able to be as successful as it has been. and so i just wanted to say that and make sure that you understand from me and from everyone at cms we appreciate all that you have done. and it has paid off. from a slow start unquestionably enrollment in queue hp's continues to rise across the country and in february we announced that 4 million people have enrolled in health plans in

the federally facilitative marketplace and that number continues to grow. we are already seeing as march begins and as we move towards the deadline of march 31st for open enrollment for coverage in 2014 i think we are expecting a significant spike again in enrollments as we saw at the end of december. we are going to continue to issue on a monthly basis more detailed enrollment reports and i thought that i would walk through for you today some of the highlights of what reflects the data through february 1. we had 1.1 million new enrollments in january which was a 53% increase over prior months and again more than 6.5 million people americans have signed up

for private health insurance plans or medicaid to the marketplace place and obviously that number has gone up through february and will be reporting more on that shortly. from october through january just a snapshot again of some of the demographics. young adults accounted for 25% of the total planned selection in those first four months and enrollment has continued to increase for young adults at a faster rate than for the rest of the population so in january enrollment for people 18 to 34 who had selected a plan through either the state marketplace of the federal marketplace increased by 3% in february, yeah in january 27% compared to the first two months of

enrollment rate we have seen a pretty steady percentage of about 80% or 82% of those who have selected marketplace plans and are eligible to receive financial assistance in the form of advanced premiums tax credits and car sharing reductions. in terms of what people are choosing more than half for 61% have chosen silver plans, 19% have did bold plans 7% platinum plans and 1% catastrophic plans. looking forward to some of the remaining issues that we have had, the remaining issues that we have had and how we are dealing with them we have established a robust process to help consumers with enrollment. if the consumer has an issue relating to his or her enrollment the first place is to call the marketplace call center

and the number is on the screen, to talk to someone about their particular issue. if the call center is not able to help the person because the problem is more complex or requires investigation we have established a system of case workers in the cms regional office. each office has trained officers who are able to help with the more complex issues and you probably have seen through art casework tracking system the hip system with issues coming to the plans that we are seeking your assistance in resolving on behalf of consumers. so as i mentioned we very much appreciate the help that we have gotten and responsiveness in dealing with those issues and sometimes they bubble up to me

and i have reached out to karen and her team were to the plans directly and i am barely get a very rapid response in every case that i've seen and have been able to resolve the issue on behalf of the consumer so that it's been extremely encouraging. looking forward i wanted to talk a little bit about the financial management process and also about the timeline for submitting qhp for the 2015 plan here. obviously as we are winding down open enrollment for 2014 it's not too early to be thinking already about 2015 so one of our top prior days is completing the work to have an automated system for issuer payment of tax credits and cautionary or reductions. i think people know we brought in one of the main and key

aspects of the work that they have taken over and have been working very intently and intensely and coming up with the plan in the schedule for completing that effort. as you know we have been using an interim payment process in the meantime and payments have gone out in january and february and we are right now working on the payments for march and it's not surprising given the way things went the initial payment in general is rather modest but grew quite substantially in february and i think we will continue see that as we move into the payments for march. and again we appreciate your patience with us and your understanding and you're working with us on this temporary process. from what i'm hearing it seems to be working pretty well but we always welcome any feedback or thoughts that you have on how we might do things better.

with respect to the qhp certification process obviously one of things that is the most important about the affordable care act is the ability to have competition choice and transparency in the market in order to make health care more affordable and improving the quality of care so we are very pleased that the number of plans in the association that is chosen to participate and we are hoping that more will choose to participate in 2015. yesterday we released a final payment notice for 2015 which contained a number of revisions revisions -- provisions that relate to the reinsurance risk adjustment and risk corridors. i think notably we have lowered the infection point for reinsurance so that you know

claims will hit the reinsurance point sooner and we have made adjustments to the risk corridors program to increase the cap on allowable administrative costs to take into account the transitional policy with respect to noncompliant plans recognizing that that will have some effect on the risk pool. that was not anticipated in pricing for 2014 so they were a couple things we did there. we also released a draft letter on february 4 that lays out the changes for the qhp certification process. we look forward to working with both the state regulators and with all of you to make improvements and learn lessons from the way the process works for 2014, and so we proposed a number of changes and improvements in that letter. the comment period closed a

think on february 25 so we are now in the process of reviewing comments and finalizing that letter and a process that is contained in it should have that final letter out fairly soon. we have finalized -- we also recently finalized with the open enrollment period would be from 2015. it will go from november 15 to february 15 and that will allow additional time to submit the qualified qhp applications and the main purpose from our standpoint is to have more time for issuer's to be able to during the plan preview process to look at how the plans are displayed and make sure that they are accurate so we can avoid some of the issues that happened this year with plans

not displaying accurately or with the data not being reflected accurately. we are looking at an approach that would allow issuers to have a more -- more opportunity and more of a continuous opportunity to review the plans throughout the process so that we can avoid some of the last-minute changes that happened for this year. i thought i would talk a little bit about outreach. obviously we are in a period of really wanting to make sure that everyone who is eligible for assistance and everyone who is interested in getting health insurance knows about the program and knows what they have to do and especially knows that the deadline is approaching. i think you'll see in the messaging that is coming out now is very strong emphasis on the deadline and on the fact that now was the time if you want to have health insurance coverage in 2014. you have to add now and failure

to could subject you to a feed for failing to obtain coverage if you are not eligible for an exemption. so we have ramped up our outreach activities. we have more than 26,000 trains assistance helping consumers enroll. i think you have probably seen that the secretary is out there and the president is out there. he was at a town hall meeting today talking about efforts to increase enrollment in the latino community. we have 12,000 call center representatives who are sistine customers helping enroll in coverage. we have 50,000 agents and brokers who were ready to sell policies and individual market in 19,000 who have taken training to sell policies.

we know you are all engaged in your own efforts to do outreach and marketing. we very much appreciate that as well. there is going to be i think more of an emphasis on media during these last several weeks in order to again try to reach as broad and not possible. again advertising is going to focus on the march 31 deadline to create a sense of urgency using a mix of television and radio and digital media. i think people if they are signed up at all in getting the e-mails and we are getting e-mails and testimonials of people who have signed up for coverage, there is going to be also a focus on sports programming and the ncaa tournament, the march madness.

as well as the grassroots activities that we have been engaged in to reach people where they are in their communities. so again you know we are continuing to do as much work is we can to make sure that every american has access to affordable health care coverage. we very much appreciate your participation and your association's participation in not work and we want to continue to hear from you as karen says. it's very important for us that we know what's going on out there from your perspective and what you are seeing so we very much want to hear that and again thank you for everything you are doing to help us with this mission. [applause]

>> gary is going to be taking questions so i want to invite people to bring their questions. i will turn to you and very quickly we have a few minutes. gary and the insights into march and what you are seeing with people coming in could take up right now as far as you can see? >> i think we have been very encouraged. we have started to see an uptick toward the end of february and i don't see the numbers every day but i think we are encouraged by the pace of things. we have done a lot of work to make sure that a site has the capacity to handle users and we really have pushed it so if we do see a very large number of people coming in the last few days of the month that we will be able to handle that. we are pleased with what we are seeing and anticipating and everyone is anticipating that the deadline would be a real

motivator for people to come on. >> questions? we have one right here lisa. and could you identify yourself please? >> rosemary day. i'm a consultant and i just wondered what the irs is going to do in terms of notifying every taxpayer about potential penalties. i know it's not the positive message we all want but doesn't everybody just need to know that? >> i'm afraid i'm going to have to punt that question to the irs. you are going to have to ask them. i can't speak for them. >> i don't think anyone would ever try to speak for the irs. see sorry. >> i'm hearing from many low-income folks that they have applied through proper channels and have been in pending status for weeks and weeks. is there anything being done to expedite the handling of the low

income. >> is this the medicaid side of things that you are talking about? >> there applying on the web site under in pending status and then a call and find out they are just being told that they are in process. >> so i'm not completely sure what would cause them to be in pending status. i know we have engaged -- in some cases there were people who we have had to ask to come back to start the process again and we have engaged in a pretty intensive effort to reach out to those people including making telephone calls to people telling them if you come back and now some of the issues we had earlier on have been resolved but i would need to get a little more detail as far as what is causing folks to be pending to know how we might be able to free them up. >> that's the challenge.

they don't know why they are appended so when they called the 1-800-number they are continually being told pending and when they called two weeks later they say sorry you are still in pending status. they didn't know there was something going on. is that the link to the irs? >> no, it shouldn't. i'm not sure. >> maybe if you could tell us how to work with gary's team. if you let us know either me ginn jen, carmella anyone on our team. we have a question right over here. >> thank you first of all for your public service over the course of what has been a very challenging time. >> thank you. >> our 2004 to members that we have gotten to the federal marketplace will they be required in 2015 to go through the selection process again or has there have been anything definitive on that?

>> that's a timely question because we were actually talking about that today and we are looking at that we haven't come to a conclusion yet we are looking at what might qualify as the same plan and we would have to set some criteria for what would be the same plan that would enable issuers to renew people without their having to go through it so we are looking at that issue right now. >> lisa you have on there? >> my question is on -- why are we extending it to 2016 now? >> well i think we wanted to give people as many options as we could to make sure they stay in coverage and i think there has been a lot of discussion about the fact that they are people of that health insurance who are revealing the cost of moving into a new plan would be prohibitive for them so we are trying to provide the transition. we are making a lot of

transitions in the market all of one's and the last thing we want is to have anybody who had health insurance coverage do not have it so we have done everything we can to provide options. those people can move into a plan to the marketplace at their eligible for a tax credit. they may find this less expensive than what they had and it might provide coverage that is better than what they had. for some people that's not true so we wanted to give his many people options so as many people as can get coverage. >> i've a question. you have a general sense of how many people are enrolling in the individual market plans in these exchanges? >> no, i don't. i don't think we have done anything to try to collect that data and we have had conversations recently with the associations to try to see what we could do to get that data. i think it's a really important question because obviously the

goal is to get as many people ensure it is possible and whether they are on the exchanger off the exchange is interesting but not a critical question. for people who are not eligible for subsidies enrolling in plants is perfectly reasonable approach. that's a question a lot of people are asking and we will see what we can do together that data but right now we don't have that information. >> we have a question here here. >> i'm carl with corporate research group. you have a sense of how many people are previouslpreviousl y uninsured that are signing up? >> we have heard some studies that are being done to report to try to get that information. again that is not a data point that we are really collecting in any sort of systematic way so probably the best way to get

added is going to be through survey data and i think some more work on that will be done going forward. again that's not something that we are collecting as a part of the work we are doing. >> hi, over here to your left. ryan with cbs. i hate to do this to you but can you prognosticate on the risk profile of exchanges. i'm wondering end of march where you see the changes netting out in terms of -- [inaudible] >> he i think we really are going to have to wait until open a moment to have a good sense of that. and you know i'm not an actuary so i would not hold myself out as an expert on the state of the

risk pool. i think everyone who has written about this and express opinions about this has assumed based on experience in other types of programs that are like this that it makes sense if you have significant health issues and a you have an uninsured or if you had prior insurance you are more likely to come in sooner and for other people particularly the healthier people and the younger people of march 31 deadline may get those people to come in. i think that it's also important to bear in mind that the risk pool you know it's not just for the exchanges. there is a single risk pool that covers plans inside and outside the exchanges so again the number of people or the demographics for the people who come in just to the marketplace is not the sole determinant of

what the risk pool as a whole looks like. >> we have a question right here. >> hi jody with -- i'm curious to know if you can provide guidance as to when cms will be capable of sending files to health insurance plans and also what will rich the gap between the payment process? i know it will eventually come their way. >> i can't give you a date right now and there is work that has been going on as i said very intensely right now to come up with a plan for that bill and the schedule for that bill so i don't have an answer for u.s. bars the date and to the second part of the question unquestionably they won't -- they will need to be a reconciliation process that will match up the data that you have seen so far in the payments we have received so far with the plan of data that we will be

getting through the automated process so that will definitely be part of what we do. >> we have another question over here but one thing just to add as a postscript you all have said and we very much appreciated just to let everybody know you have been tes before it goes into production and we all very much appreciate that. the question right here. >> russ and i'm wondering what the latest numbers are in terms of new folks covered under medicaid as the result of free expansions and if you have any sense of what her sentence of the population going into the marketplace will be redirected into medicaid? >> i think we put out a report in the last few days. the most recent dedicate number report came out i think i saw it in the last several days. i don't have that the number right in front of me.

i don't know the answer to your second question. that may be something that we have but i don't know at this point how many are being redirected toward medicaid. >> there is a question right here. >> hi i am with a consumer-driven consulting company. private exchanges that are by and large using a defined contribution approach are seeing huge adoption of hsa qualified programs sometimes an average of 50% among hsa qualified plans. hsa qualified plans i believe make up about 28% of the public exchanges. i'm wondering if you have any data or insight into whether they are as popular in the public exchanger rina? >> yeah i don't have that. >> we have another question here.

>> hi, jimmy lee from wellpoint. i was wondering when we might find out a little bit more about the special enrollment process that the exchanges will be providing on behalf of the carriers and what the criteria is going to be and what kind of verification process if you will that tivo are in fact needing a special enrollment criteria and putting the carriers on the risk for those folks? >> do you mean later this month? >> can people lose coverage from their job or all those kinds of things? >> those types of things. >> we will be releasing more guidance from a policy standpoint and operational guidance with respect to those as we move forward and once open

enrollment has ended and they become relevant. but i think the criteria are pretty well established. i think you are asking the right question in terms of what, whether we accept some required documentation we will have to work through some of those issues. >> a question right here. >> to follow with delta dental of california. in fellow rulemaking released yesterday the separate out-of-pocket maximum contributed or separately allocated was lowered by half to $350 for one child in 702 more children and yet the rule, seemingly i haven't read the entire rule yet is keeping the actuarial value requirements at a 70% low in 80% high. there's such a drastic reduction in the outer packet maximum it's going to be difficult to meet that 70% av because the plan has become very much richer without

adjustment. can you explain her teen all the logic behind why the rule maintained the a/d levels where they are? >> you know i think we are trying to strike a balance between the maximum out of pockets that are low enough so that the coverage is meaningful for people and people will actually be able to access some of those benefits. and you know i think we can certainly continue to work with you as we have in other contexts if there are issues at the a/d caused by that we can certainly continue to have those conversations. >> i want to ask a final question i know you need to run but as you think about 14 gary, how do you think about and what are the learnings from 14 that affect how debo abegbile is thinking for 15? one of the things we appreciate

is having the rules blocked down before you bid in having more predictability and stability but what are the other things either direct enrollment or the kinds of things that come to mind as you look at 14? >> i think the number one thing that probably we have all learned from 2014 is that this is hard work and it's complicated and you know it's going to take us all some time. it's not a one-year project. it's a multiyear project and they think is long as we all continue to keep our focus on what the goal we all share which is to make sure that people have coverage and are able to get health care and work together toward that whole you know that i think we will continue to be more and more successful as time goes by. i think the things you have identified, the specific thing that we have learned is how important it is to be as

transparent as we can be as early as we can be about both the policy rules and the system and operational issues so that we can learn from you all what works and what doesn't work and how we can improve things. some of the things we are hoping to do to the qhp process i'm hoping will make that process just a little bit easier and a bit more smooth this year than it did last year but i think it's going to be a continuing discussion in a continuing effort because you know it's a big thing we are doing and we are changing a lot and asking a lot of you all and asking a lot frankly of consumers many of whom this is new for them and so i think we have to continue to be willing to learn lessons from what has worked and what hasn't worked and be flexible and adapt you know and that is why we so

much appreciate the ongoing dialogue that we have both with you and your colleagues at the association and with the plans. >> as you go up and get prepared to go home, which i am sure is a wonderful thing to think about i just think on behalf of everyone in this audience and our colleagues across the country we just want to say you have done a very good job. we really appreciate leadership, appreciate your thoughtfulness and i suspect we will continue to work with you in some capacity or another over time. please join me in thanking gary cohen. [applause] [inaudible conversations]

.. the president pro tempore: the senate will come to order. the opening prayer will be offered by his holiness, the dalai lama.